Astec Industries Q3 2026: A Guidance Cut and a Backlog Surge
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on November 5, 2026.
Astec swung to an adjusted loss, missing expectations of $0.47, and cut full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance to $140 million to $150 million from $160 million to $175 million. Backlog jumped 49.2% to $670.5 million as paused asphalt plant orders came back in the quarter.
Continue ReadingShow less
Astec Industries posted adjusted earnings per share of negative $0.01 for the third quarter of 2026, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47. Revenue came in at $352.4 million, missing the expected $375.5 million. The quarter marked a sharp reversal from the string of beats the company had delivered through most of 2024 and 2025.
CEO Jaco van der Merwe pinned the miss on a temporary pullback by select asphalt plant customers earlier in the year, driven by macroeconomic uncertainty. That pause hurt sales volume, product mix, and factory absorption across both business segments. Inflation on materials, labor, and overhead compounded the damage, with Infrastructure Solutions (which covers asphalt and road-building equipment) seeing its operating Adjusted EBITDA fall 36% to $15.3 million and its segment margin drop 430 basis points to 8.1%.
Management responded by cutting full-year 2026 Adjusted EBITDA guidance to a range of $140 million to $150 million, down from a prior range of $160 million to $175 million. The U.S. federal highway bill, whose delayed renewal has created uncertainty for infrastructure spending, was cited as an additional headwind alongside the customer order pauses.
Sponsored
Total backlog surged 49.2% to $670.5 million, counterpoint to the guidance reduction. Infrastructure Solutions alone posted implied orders up 38% sequentially to $281.9 million, translating to a book-to-bill ratio of 149%. That figure suggests the order pause is unwinding, and that revenue recognition from this rebuilt backlog should flow into future quarters.
Despite the bottom-line loss, Astec generated $17.4 million in operating cash flow during the quarter and $10.7 million in free cash flow, compared with outflows in the same period a year earlier. The company also paid a dividend of $0.13 per share and reported an Adjusted EBITDA to net debt ratio of 2.3x, within its stated target range of 1.5x to 2.5x, suggesting the balance sheet remains manageable even as profitability has come under pressure.
Mentioned: ASTE